You resort to the sword, you commit abominations and each of you defiles his neighbor’s wife: Here are three more sins that the people in Israel continued to do. You resort to the sword refers to lives of violence and murder and illustrates the lawlessness in the land. Some translations have “You live by your swords” (Anchor Bible) or “You rely on your weapons,” but others make murder explicit by saying “You commit murder” or “You shed the blood of other people.” You commit abominations refers to doing disgusting things that God hates as they worship pagan idols (see the comments on 5.9). Good News Translation says “Your actions are disgusting,” and New Century Version has “You … do terrible things which I hate.” Each of you defiles his neighbor’s wife means each man has sex with a woman who is the wife of another man in the community (see 18.6). Good News Translation says “Everyone commits adultery.” However, this rendering is too general. New Century Version is a more accurate with “Each of you has sexual relations with his neighbor’s wife.”

Shall you then possess the land?: The verse ends with the same rhetorical question as the previous verse (see the comments there) to stress that the people will not possess the land. It may be rendered “Do you really think the land is yours?” or “No, you will not possess the land.”

Quoted with permission from Gross, Carl & Stine, Philip C. A Handbook on Ezekiel. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2016. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .